Dragons' Young announces retirement

It's been a career that has spanned 192 first grade games for the same club, and many of them have been played in pain.

Ever since a knee injury in 2006, Dean Young has been 'battling' to recover to full health, but he's never got there.

So having spent six years doing only light training sessions despite maintaining his first grade spot, Young today announced he's had enough.

"I contemplated retiring at the end of last year but I think after playing a couple of games [this year] I knew my knee wasn't up to it," Young said.

"I'm glad I've made the decision - I'm relieved more than anything."

For the 28 year old to have played first grade NRL for this long, in this much pain, is incredible.

In paying tribute to Young, Dragons coach Steve Price said many footballers in his position would be long-retired.

Which is why Young was quick to thank the Dragons staff and players who have made significant concessions to allow him to train at his own level, provided he still delivers on the field when it matters.

"The staff have been unbelievable - there's been no pressure to do running at training and the players haven't held it against me or been dirty with me," he said.

"I'm doing about six sets of ball work the last day before the game and it's been that way for years.

"It's got worse so I've been doing a fair bit of swimming and boxing by myself to keep in shape."

Price said Young's persistence in the face of injury impressed him.

"I've seen him go through every training session that he has to get through and it's amazing," he said.

"It's a credit to him and his family that he's been able to do that - he's going to be sorely missed."

Captain Ben Hornby said he'll be remembered as one of the club's great players.

"He gave everything he had to the club and he put a lot of dedication in off the field and a lot of our blokes can take a lot of inspiration from that," he said.

"He's been our forward leader for the last couple of years."

Young said it's been an emotional time, and he's 'sick of crying' - something he acknowledged he's done a bit of, in public, recently.

"I told the boys this morning and I had a big speech organised and after I announced I was retiring today I couldn't get any further.

"I just love the game - I love everything about it and that's what's kept me going.